The constant refrain at school and at home that life is tougher out there than
it used to be has steeled teenagers, says Richard Cairns.

Spare a thought for sixth–formers receiving their A–level results yesterday.

First, they were told that their A–level exams would be more difficult and marked more rigorously. And so they have been. The grade inflation of recent years has come to a juddering halt.

The number of top grades is down again, with a fall in the number of grades at A* and A for the second year running. There are 3,426 fewer A* grades and the proportion of girls achieving the elite A* has fallen from 7.9 per cent to 7.4 per cent in a year. Today's leavers already look less impressive on paper than last year's.

Now, they face three years of accumulating university debt with no certainty of a job at the end. Even if those jobs materialise, it seems likely that salaries will remain depressed.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies recently revealed that among people in their 20s, median income fell 12 per cent between 2007–08 and 2011–12 while that of the over–60s rose by 2 to 3 per cent.

As the elderly see their incomes rise and benefits protected, young people face greater indebtedness, unaffordable housing, reduced public services, less generous pensions and higher taxes.

But from the gloom is emerging a set of rosier unintended consequences.

The first is that young people really are working harder because they feel they have no other option if they want to secure a job that will enable them to weather the challenges ahead.

I don't know of a single head in the state–maintained or independent sector who believes children are lazier today than they were five or 10 years ago.

The second is that students are beginning to choose their subjects more wisely. The universities have helped in this regard by publishing lists of socalled "non–facilitating" subjects, those deemed of limited benefit for university.

A–level results highlight this shift.

Mathematics numbers have been rising every year since the Coalition came to power. That has continued, with 2,944 more entries for maths and further maths this year. Other big rises have been in chemistry (up 2,584), economics (up 1,812) and physics (up 1,060).

Media studies and general studies have continued their miserable decline, losing 7,000 candidates between them in a single year. We are finally seeing the creation of an education system producing school–leavers whom employers and universities want.

Michael Gove has played an important part in this, demanding intellectual rigour in all A–level subjects and not being afraid to put the boot in where required. Sixth–formers have got the message. After decades of concern about falling numbers of mathematicians and scientists, there is cause for optimism.

Students are better placed than ever to secure skilled graduate jobs that might have gone to German or Chinese peers.

A third development will be of particular interest to David Cameron. Research from the latest British Social Attitudes survey and Ipsos Mori reveals a generation that is less collectivist and more individualistic.

The constant refrain at school and at home that life is tougher out there than it used to be has steeled them to believe that their future is in their hands.

While they are socially liberal to the core, they are much more likely to value self–help than state help, are instinctively dubious about benefit claimants and are more likely to regard the welfare state with a critical eye. They are also more likely than previous generations of young people to vote Conservative.